


Legends

by theRougeChevalier



Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Beard Kink, F/M, Family and War, Homecoming, Kid Peter Parker, Letters to Santa, M/M, Parent Steve Rogers, Parent Tony Stark, Peter's first science fair, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-20
Updated: 2018-11-20
Packaged: 2019-08-26 18:38:11
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 10,212
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16686808
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theRougeChevalier/pseuds/theRougeChevalier
Summary: Tony Rogers-Stark misses his husband, especially at this time of year.  It's hard to keep their son believing in Santa and in Christmas when Daddy is so far away.A Late Veterans' Day inspired piece





	1. I believe in Santa Claus

**Author's Note:**

> I started this fic before I heard of Stan Lee's death, but I dedicate this to him, a true artist and consummate creator of worlds. 
> 
> This has all the feels. Rated M for trigger warning for PTSD and slight kink reference. But mostly fluff and angst. I encourage readers to listen to the song Legends by Kasey Ballerini while reading the last chapter, as that song was my primary inspiration for writing this.

Tony heaved a sigh as he stared out the window. From the dining room table where he sat he could see out the front window at the trees that stood in front of their brown stone. They were a bright yellow and burnt orange this year and mixed nicely with the trees in the park in the background. This used to be their favorite time of year, but now it just seemed dark and dreary. Tony turned back to the reports before him and rubbed his temples, he had moved his work to the kitchen table in hopes that the open space would make him feel less lonely. 

Their heavily renovated three floor walkup, boasted a reinforced basement workshop for him to tinker with the less volatile of his projects. For more flammable experiments he had his lab at the office. He had his own home office as well, they had also turned the attic into a studio/office for Steve so there was no shortage of space, but even so Tony found himself gravitating towards the common rooms on the first floor as if the open space would offer him comfort even though they were void of the presence that had always made their house feel ‘homey’. He wondered what Steve would say to him for breaking the sanctity of the kitchen table. 

Probably, “Tony the table is for eating not paperwork.” 

The Central Park West address had thrown Steve when Tony first showed him the place. Steve had said it was far too much, but Tony had convinced him as at the time they were soon to be married and it was either the penthouse above Tony’s office or Steve’s dingy flat in Brooklyn and this was a compromise. 

An expensive one, but nothing Tony couldn’t afford. He ran a lucrative company that specialized in electronic and mechanical engineering and he had inherited family money so even after all the high tech renovations it was still but a percentage of his fortune. He had lots of property across the country and the world and would have gladly turned any one of them into Steve’s dream home, but Steve was a New York City boy born and bred, there was nowhere else he could imagine living. Granted he enjoyed their occasional week in California enjoying the sun or taking a weekend break in Boston in the fall, but New York was home. Tony couldn’t disagree, New York was where they had met and where they had fallen in love and anywhere Steve was, was home to Tony. 

He was drawn from his thoughts by the sounds of small feet scrambling down the hall, followed shortly by the sound of a loud “Papa! Papa!” He turned just in time to catch the other love of his life. A small, 6 year old boy, with chocolate brown hair and matching brown eyes, their son Peter. “Whoa! What’s up Petey?” He said brushing a stray lock from his son’s face, he would have to get it cut soon, Steve liked to keep it short. 

“Papa? Will you help me?” Peter asked in his sweet child’s voice with an adorable perplexed expression on his face. Tony smiled, for all that Peter was his biological child sometimes his mannerisms and expressions were pure Steve.

When they had decided to have children, Tony had been all for adoption and was surprised when it was Steve who suggested surrogacy. He had told Tony he couldn’t deny the future a brain like his. Tony had been reticent about being the donor, his family history was fully of mental illness and drug addiction and it was not something he wanted to pass on and he didn’t particular care if they had a genius child or not. 

Steve had just smiled and pulled him close. “Even if they’re not a genius, maybe I’m selfish but I want a little bit more of ‘you’ in the world to love.” 

Tony had said he felt the same about Steve, but Steve’s medical history was even worse, he had had lots of heart, lung, and immune issues as a child and they really had not lessened until some experimental medical treatments in high school and one late growth spurt later he had a clean bill of health and kept fit by doing track and field. 

So in the end Tony had been convinced to be the donor and sent a few emails doing research into finding a surrogate, but before that could go any further, his former assistant, now business partner and longtime friend, Pepper Potts had stormed into his office demanding why she had not been asked. She had known everything about his life when she was his assistant and that hadn’t changed, she had intercepted the emails and offered her services immediately. 

“I would be honored to carry a baby for you and Steven. I’m offended you didn’t ask me first. Besides it will test out my new boyfriend and see if he’s ready for the long haul.”   
And that was that, three tries with the artificial insemination and on the third try plus approximately 8 and a half months later Peter James Rogers-Stark was born, and their lives had never been the same again. And they loved it. It turned out their brownstone by the park was the perfect place in New York to raise a child. Another win for Tony. 

“Of course what’s up little man?” 

“I’m conducting a ‘speriment.” Peter said with all the earnestness a 6 year old could muster waving a piece of paper in one hand. 

Tony grinned proudly ‘Yep, he’s mine too. No doubts there.’ “Well what are the parameters of this experiment?” Tony asked matching the seriousness of Peter to make sure he knew that he was being taken seriously and not mocked. 

“Thomas in my big class said that Santa Claus can’t be real, cause the North Pole is mostly water, frozen water but still, how could Santa live there if its all water and ice?! He said its not possible. But I did some research,” He held his paper aloft before slapping it down on the table over Tony’s reports. “And Santa has been said to live in lots of different places around the world; Finland, Canada, Christmas Island, some even say he lives in a cave in the Italian mountains!” Peter said excitedly gesturing with his pencil to the paper. 

Sure enough written in blocky handwriting which far exceeded the skills of a normal 6 year old excepting the spelling mistakes, was a list of potential locations for Santa Claus’s workshop. 

“So I’m going to send a letter to all these places asking for the same thing, something I know only Santa could give me and if I get it I’ll know he’s real and prove Thomas wrong!” 

Tony had to stifle a laugh, that wasn’t the most scientific of motivations, but he wasn’t going to squash his son’s creativity or sense of justice, Steve would be cross if he did that. 

“Alright then, but how will you know if you get what you want which location is the true one? What is your control?” Tony asked. 

Peter put his pencil to his chin and thought for a moment, another Steve-ism, “Well Santa’s workshop is top secret so I wouldn’t want him giving it away by telling me, so maybe it doesn’t matter if I know where he is as long as he gets me what I asked for.” Peter finally concluded looking to Tony for approval. 

Tony nodded and cuddled Peter with a smile, “I do believe you are right, for this kind of experiment it would be best if we just prove he’s real and not expose where the workshop really is. So how can I help?” 

“Well can we write the letters on your laptop? There is a lots of places on the list and all the letters have to say the same thing and if I did them all by hand my arm would get tired.” He finished dramatically dropping his top half across the table. 

Tony did laugh at that, but got it under control quickly, returning to the serious business at hand. “Well we can’t have that now can we Petey Pie?” He said giving his son a quick tickle before opening up his laptop. “Okay kiddo I’ll be Pepper, and you be me and I’ll take dictation. So what are we writing to old St. Nick?” 

“Dear Santa,” Peter started. “I hope this letter finds you well, a Thomas Trevor in my class says that you’re not real, but I don’t believe him. So I am writing a letter to you and sending it to all the places in the world where legend has it that you live in hopes that you will, in capitals papa, DEFINITELY get it. Don’t worry about telling me where you are, I know the workshop needs to be kept a secret. 

If you get me this one thing; that I know no one else can get me, that will be proof enough for me and I’ll make sure to report the success of my speriment to all the kids at school so they keep on believing in you too. 

All I want for Christmas is for my daddy to come home, just for Christmas….” 

Tony gasped and stopped typing his eyes widening slightly, he should have seen this coming, “Oh Peter, sweetheart, I don’t know if Santa can control that….” 

Peter turned his big brown eyes on Tony, wide and earnest. “I know that Daddy’s a soldier and that he has very important work to do. And he has to watch out for his men, but I thought,” Peter looked uncertain and his eyes started to water “Maybe if he could come home just for one day...” He started to sniffle as his voice broke. “Just one day, and then he could go back and finish his work. You don’t think his men would miss him for just one day?...” Peter was sobbing now, fisting one hand to his eyes and the other in Tony’s shirt. 

“Oh baby.” Tony said his own voice breaking, he wrapped Peter in his arms and hushed him softly as he cried into his shirt, in truth he felt like crying as well.   
Steve and his reserve unit had been mobilized to the Middle East back in February, he was supposed to have been home in September, but there had been more than a few setbacks in the province they were stationed in and now it didn’t look like he would be home any time soon. 

It was no wonder Peter was so out of sorts, Tony felt the same way, it had been a hard year for their family. 

Steve had been in the reserves since college, before Tony even knew him, and when they were first dating it wasn’t a big deal; one weekend a month and maybe a few weeks in the summer, Tony was busy with his business so he had to take business trips as well and they often coincided so neither of them felt like they were missing the other too badly if they were busy. 

The few times he had spent time overseas had been a few weeks of reserve duty in Europe or Asia and sometimes Tony would surprise him by meeting him there after his duty time was over and they would spent a week together traveling around. It had been romantic and spontaneous. Even after they had Peter it hadn’t been too much of a hardship for Steve to spend a weekend away. Peter was always so excited when he came back. 

But when Steve told him last Christmas that his unit was going to be mobilized in February to help fight the war on terror, Tony had never been so scared in all his life.   
Steve had tried to make regular phone calls and skype calls to let them know he was well, but it wasn’t always a weekly occurrence, sometimes when they were on maneuvers Tony wouldn’t hear from him for two weeks or more. Every day over a week that he went without hearing from him was a knife in his heart. 

He would never forget the night in early summer when he had been unable to sleep because it had been two weeks since he’d heard from Steve and so he stayed up tinkering in the basement workshop with the laptop open and Skype up, just in case. 

Steve had called, miraculously he had called, but the moment Tony answered he could tell just by looking at Steve all was not well. 

He had never looked so hollow, he was covered in dust and dirt, his eyes cloudy and vacant with dark circles that seemed to go all the way down to his cheek bones, his jaw was tense. And the moment he saw Tony’s face he had looked as though he couldn’t catch his breath. 

“Steve, babe? What’s wrong?” 

Steve said nothing for a moment and Tony watched the muscle in his jaw clench and unclench. “Everything went wrong….our mission went bad and I…I couldn’t protect them.”   
He went silent again clenching his fist in front of his mouth. Tony wanted to reach through the screen and comfort him, but even though he knew he couldn’t physically do that he knew his husband well enough to know what he needed. 

He picked up the laptop with a soft “Hold on babe.” And ran up the stairs to their son’s room. He slid into bed next to their little one who slept on peacefully, he was ever so glad not for the first time that Peter slept like a rock, because the moment he focused the camera on their sleeping boy Steve started to gasp and sob. 

Tony ran his hand through Peter’s tousled locks and whispered, “Peter is safe and sound because of you. No harm will come to him, I promise. He loves you and I love you and we are here waiting for you.”

Tony continued to whisper soft comforts to Steve as he cried letting out all the pain and hurt he felt, it wasn’t pretty and Tony ached to see his husband so effected by whatever had happened but he knew that he needed to release those emotions or they would eat away at him and Tony could not stand to see one more piece of the good man that was his lover be chipped away. After a good half an hour Steve had opened up and told Tony as much as he was able about what had happened. 

That was when he revealed that his best friend Bucky had been grievously injured in an ambush and was being medevac’d to Germany. They weren’t sure if he would survive, but for certain he had lost his arm and Steve had seen it all happen. Several other of his men were injured though not so badly as Bucky and one dead. No wonder Steve was a wreck. He took his role as Captain seriously and Bucky and he had been friends forever. They had grown up in the mean streets of Brooklyn together, joined the Army together. They were more like brothers than friends. Steve had lost his mother young and been brought up with James and his sisters. The Barnes family was a force to be reckoned with when it came to their beloved Steve Rogers. 

Tony had one hell of an enemy in James Buchanan Barnes when he and Steve first started dating. The man was very protective of Steve and had thought that Tony was only going to use him for a good time and throw him away like so much garbage when something more ‘interesting’ came along. Steve came from nothing and Tony had been born with a silver spoon in his mouth and they had faced a lot of bias from friends and family about their relationship because of those differences, but Bucky more than anyone. 

But Tony gave as good as he got with Barnes and when he proved he was in it for the long haul the two of them had gone from enemies to rivals and nowadays he jokingly called him his ‘friendly neighborhood brother in law’ though they still bickered endlessly. 

Tony had promised Steve in that moment that he would call Germany in the morning and do everything he could to make sure that Bucky got the best care he could.   
That promise had led to a flurry of phone calls to military hospitals and arranging for specialists in the fields of neurosurgery, plastic surgeons, physical and occupational therapy and PTSD counselors all on standby. Bucky had survived emergency surgery, but his left arm was completely gone from the shoulder down. He would require reconstructive surgery just to be able to consider a prosthesis. When he had touched down at Bethesda Medical Center, Tony had made sure he had the best, he had had to fight a few Generals, but Tony was an apt negotiator and also already had his engineering teams working on better prosthetic models, for Bucky yes, but if they built a good enough model it could advance all medical engineering in the US. At least that’s how he sold it to R&D. 

He flew down to visit him once a month after that. Bucky had been in a bad way, but the VA had provided a great counselor, Sam Wilson and now months later Bucky was back in NYC slowly getting back to his old self with his training prosthetic and a new girlfriend, Natalie who worked for the FBI, introduced to him by Sam. 

That had been the worst incident but since then there had been many others; either quiet Skype sessions in the middle of the night or weeks without a word, Tony didn’t know which he hated more. 

As he held their crying child he swore to himself that he was going to beg Steve to quit the reserves as soon as he got home. He just needed to be home.

He didn’t want to get Peter’s hopes up, but Steve would be more than angry if he crushed their son’s creativity and his belief in Santa Claus all in one go. 

Tony shushed Peter once more and pulled back to look down at him. “Listen, I don’t know if Santa has the ear of any generals. But Santa’s magic so it wouldn’t hurt to try would it?” 

Peter nodded and gave a sniffle. 

Peter finished dictating the letter and Tony hit print. “Now he said, we’ve got lots of copies to decorate and envelopes to stamp so what say we get this Christmas season started off right? Jarvis, some appropriate tunes if you please?” 

Without another word “It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas” played through the house speakers and Tony plucked Peter up and spun around the house with him, until they were both singing and laughing breathlessly.


	2. What Friends Are For

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony confides in his friends about his parenting concerns and his worries for Steve.

The next morning Tony dropped Peter off at school on his way to the office. “Don’t forget my letters!” Peter said urgently as he pulled his backpack on in the back seat. 

“Pepper and I will be right on it.” Tony nodded. 

“And Papa do you think Uncle Bucky will come to my open house?” 

“I’ll be sure to ask him.” 

“Kay Papa. Love you!” Peter called after his kissed his father on the cheek and scuttled out of the car running for the door of his school. 

As Tony drove to the office he dialed up his ‘friendly neighborhood brother in law’. “Hello?” A drowsy voice answered. 

“Good Morning Buckaroo, rough night?” 

“No just early? What do you want Stark?” 

“Well I don’t know if you’d heard Buck but I have this thing called a child and they tend to get up early, I’m told they have to be fed and taken to school or some such nonsense?”

“Stark…..” He growled. 

“I wanted to invite you to lunch today my treat?”

“What is it my birthday? Where?” 

“Well unfortunately I can’t take you to our favorite Italian place as it is across town in Brooklyn which is a bit of a hike at lunch hour, I though perhaps that Thai place in Manhattan you like…” 

“Don’t say the name out loud, Nat might hear you and she’ll want to come.” Bucky whispered. 

Tony chuckled. “Spending the night Uncle Bucky I’m surprised at you!” 

“Can it Tones. See you there at 1230.” Then he hung up. 

‘Charming as always.’ Tony thought. 

When he made it to the floor that held his office and Pepper’s, of equal size but separated by a foyer and two glass walls for Peppers sanity he went straight to her desk where she sat already hard at work. He placed a cup of coffee before her before dropping the thick stack of santa letters beside it. “Good Morning my dear, could I bother you to look up some addresses for me?” He said as he pulled Peter’s list from his coat pocket. 

“What for?” Pepper asked looking to the stack. Tony handed her the list. “Peter is running an experiment and wants to send letters to Santa to every place he could think of in the world that Santa might live.”

“Santa letters? Already?” Pepper said her expression both soft and exasperated, a look she often reserved for all members of the Rogers-Stark Family. 

“Yep, Christmas has come early it would seem.” Tony said sipping his coffee with a fond smile as he handed her the list. 

“And you really want to send all of these letters to these places?” She said with a quirked eyebrow. 

Tony shrugged. “Hey far be it from me to crush the kids imagination, besides whoever you send them to might enjoy a little 6 year old whimsy.”   
He started to get up from his perch on her desk when she asked the inevitable. 

“What did Peter ask for this year?” 

Pepper could see Tony’s shoulders slump a little. “He asked Santa to bring Steve home for Christmas” 

“Oh…oh sweetie.” Pepper said and whether she meant Peter or Tony was unclear. 

“The worst part is Pete just wants one day. He said he knows daddy’s got an important job and he wouldn’t want to keep him from it for more than one day….” Tony gave a thousand yard look out the glass windows overlooking Manhattan. 

He heard Pepper’s heels come across the floor as she embraced him from behind. He covered her hands with his own. “No kid should have to feel like they’re second to anything. I would know. My dad put his work first my whole life.” 

“That’s not this and you know it Tony. Steve would be here in a second if he could. Hell he would never have left if it weren’t for his sense of duty to his unit. You even said when you told me you were marrying the man that Steve didn’t expect to ever see combat. This wasn’t a possibility 8 years ago. “ 

Tony sighed and turned to look at Pepper. He sighed “I know and I don’t blame Steve, its just I hate him being away and every minute he’s not here is so hard. He was supposed to be home by now. Every extra minute since the day he was meant to be home feels like agony.” 

Pepper hugged him a little tighter. “Any word on when he’s coming home?” 

“Other than the fact the stinking military was supposed to send him home 38 days, 8 hours, and 2 minutes ago….” He said looking at his watch dramatically. “No he said not till after the New Year at least.” 

“So no chance of making the Santa wish come true huh? When was the last time you talked to him?” 

“9 days ago. But he said they would be out in the field soooo it’s not an abnormal amount of time.” 

“Well you keep your chin up Tony and I’m sure he’ll call any day.” She patted his chest. “Would it make you feel better if I let you spend the morning playing around in the lab instead of doing boring old paperwork?” 

“It might,” he said with a little smile. 

“Good. You go be the mad scientist-engineer we know and love, I’ve got some Santa letters to mail.” 

Tony started to back out the door. “Thanks Pepper, oh another thing, Peter’s open house is in like a week and a half? You and Happy will come right? I’m having lunch with my favorite brother in law today to invite him. We are going to need all hands on deck to cheer Peter on.”

Pepper smiled settling herself back at her desk “Wouldn’t miss it for the world, now go invent me some groundbreaking new tech that will reinvent the world and break the market.

Tony grinned, “I’d be lost without you Pep.” 

“Yes you would.” She called after him. 

She looked down at the stack of letters to Santa, each covered in stickers. She traced the letters of the list with her finger noting how good Peter’s penmanship was getting. He was so advanced for a 6 year old, but Steve and Tony tried their best to make sure their little genius still had the best childhood a clever boy could have. Tony was right he shouldn’t have to settle for less than both his parents and he shouldn’t have to grow up any faster. And she could see the toll Steve’s absence was taking on Tony as well. Those two had a love story for the ages and she’d be damned if she sat around and watched her best friend’s heart be broken. 

She pushed the call button on her phone alerting her secretary on the opposite side of the floor. 

“Yes Ms. Potts.” 

“Yes hi Susan, I’m going to need a few addresses could you look them up for me?” 

“Certainly ma’am, what country or state?” 

“Arlington VA USA.”   
*/*/*/*/*/

 

Tony met Bucky for lunch promptly at 1230. Bucky was already seated, Tony remembered a time when Bucky was always late, the military had really changed that about him. He was wearing ripped jeans and a flannel shirt in dark green and black, with the sleeves down it almost went unnoticeable that his left arm was a prosthetic. It was a training prosthetic so it had limited functionality but really it was designed to get Bucky’s body used to the new appendage and build up the muscles and familiarize his body with how to compensate for such a foreign limb. 

He sat down to Bucky already flipping through the menu. “Hey Stark, I thought I was going to have to order for you?” 

“As if I would eat anything you ordered for me, you probably ordered it with a side of cyanide.”

“Nah, maybe laxative but not cyanide.” Bucky said with a smirk. 

Tony flipped through his own menu quickly, ordering his usual while Bucky ordered what seemed like an inordinate amount of food, but he and Steve had high metabolisms and lots of muscle so they were always big eaters. It was a nice return to normalcy since when Bucky had first come back stateside he had been too depressed to eat. 

“So, why did you invite me to lunch?” Bucky said once the waiter had walked away. 

Tony put his hands up in a gesture of exasperated surrender. “Can’t I just have lunch with my brother in law?” He asked all faux innocence. 

“You can but, you forget I know you. You’ve been in my life for almost 10 years now there isn’t much you can hide from me. I could tell in your voice this morning that you needed to get something off your chest so spill?” 

“Is that what you told Nat so she wouldn’t crash our lunch?” 

“I didn’t have to tell her she’s very perceptive she thinks the same thing.” 

“I just wanted to invite you and Nat to Peter’s open house in two weeks. That’s all.” Tony said playing with his silverware 

“What’s an open house?” Bucky asked confused. 

“Well its when the school invites friends and family to come and see the classrooms and admire the kids hard work. Peter’s first grade class has done drawings of what their thankful for and since 3 times a week he spends a science or math period with the third graders he’s been invited to participate in the science fair as well that’s held in conjunction with the open house.” 

“His first science fair huh?” Bucky said with a knowing smirk. “You must be proud as punch Papa Stark? Does Steve know I bet he’s all sort of smug about it too?” 

“We told him the last time he called. He was very pleased. He’ll be more pleased when he finds out that I have sworn not to give Peter any help with his project.” 

“Oh how noble of you. Making him do it on his own.” Bucky raised an eyebrow his smirk full of skepticism. 

“I swear, I am only there to provide the most rudimentary of assistance and supervision.” 

“Will there be explosions?” 

“No but perhaps fire, small, controlled, if his experiment is successful.” Tony said with a grin. 

“Uh huh.” Bucky commented, after a beat of awkward silence. “Well fine then, I’ll be there, I’d hate to miss such a momentous occasion as the first science fair.” He unfolded his napkin and placed it on his lap. 

“Will you bring Nat too? I hate to break it to you tall dark and mysterious but Peter is already getting attached. Won’t be long before he starts calling her Aunty Nat.” Tony teased. 

Bucky blushed a little or as much as a tough guy veteran like him could and ruffled his hair with his right hand. “Jeez Tony don’t pull my chain I’ve already got my mom asking if I’ll bring her for Thanksgiving, hey what are you and Peter doing for Thanksgiving anyway? You know my ma loves having you?” Bucky said slightly deflecting as their drinks arrived and he sipped his coke. 

“And we love Mrs. Barnes’ cooking, but she said to me in passing that all three of your sisters will be around with their families and that’s just too many for her little house plus us. I wouldn’t want to impose.” 

“That’s hogwash, I know it and you know it and my mother definitely knows it. What are you going to do anyway? We both know Steve does all the cooking.”   
Tony gave a sad smile at that, but said nothing.

Bucky sighed at Tony’s quiet, it was very unlike the genius, “Geez I’m sorry Tones. What have you heard from wonderboy?”

“Nothing in 9 days.” He said looking at his hands. Bucky reached out with his prosthetic hand although it was little more than a cup and claw at this stage. Tony looked up at him.   
“Look I won’t tell you not to worry because I know that won’t help, but if there is anyone out there who can take care of himself its Steve and I know all the guys have got his back. Heck they know how crazy he is about you and Peter. He’s got every reason to get back here as soon as possible.” 

“Thanks Buck.” Tony said softly. 

They were quiet until their food was delivered and Bucky started to speak again, “You know Steve and I talked a lot those nights in the desert. We’re already like brothers but something about relying on one another in those conditions brings you even closer. And Steve told me that you guys were thinking about having another kid?” 

Tony smiled at that. “Yeah last Thanksgiving, we were sitting on the couch watching old Christmas movies after Peter had fallen asleep and Steve said maybe it would be nice to have a little one again. I told him Peter was still little, but he said he wanted another baby. Peter is big enough that it wouldn’t be too much of a handful to have two and he made the excellent argument that if we wanted to use Pepper as a surrogate again we would need to do so quickly because as you know she and Happy tied the knot last year and shortly she may be wanting her own little ones. But he is still hesitant to be the donor.” 

“We talked about that too. And he just doesn’t want to risk the kid having all his health problems, but I think he could be convinced.” He winked at that. “And even if Pepper isn’t up to it I’m sure one of my sisters would happily volunteer. I’m not promising anything…” 

Tony laughed “I don’t know if the world is ready for a half Barnes half Rogers child.” 

Bucky laughed too. “You may be right about that. But the point is, Steve still wants that. He wants a big family with you. I swear the man would carry them himself if biology weren’t against him. Thoughts of you and Peter and these future kids are what’s keeping him going, they are what is going to bring him back to you. It gives him something to fight for to live for. Let that sooth your fears at least.” 

Tony nodded with a watery smile. “You know I didn’t actually intend for this to be a therapy session. I did just want to talk about Peter.”

“Well I thought we did, you want to make sure that he’s got lots of support at the science fair because he needs some comforting too.” 

“I’m afraid its going to take more than that.” Tony said pulling out the extra copy of the santa letter he had printed as his office. He passed it to Bucky and Bucky read it over. He saw the moment Bucky got to the part he was concerned over, Bucky’s eyes widened and his shoulders slumped slightly. 

“Ah jeez….” He said putting a hand to his face. “This is worse than I thought.”

“Yeah I don’t know how I’m going to convince him Santa Claus is real after this.” Tony said sadly. 

“No, no, no, Steve will kill us if he comes back and little man doesn’t believe in Santa Claus. We have to get someone to dress up as St. Nick and come by on Christmas Eve with a big gift, and maybe a video from Steve.” Bucky rambled as ideas came to mind. 

Tony smiled, it was like having the old Bucky back. “Look just tell me you’ll be there at the open house and on Christmas to help with damage control and that will be enough, we’ll figure out the rest by then.” 

“I will. Nat too. To the open house for sure, and we’ll invite Sam, and Clint and Banner and Pepper from your office. I’ll even ask Ma and the girls.” 

Tony grinned, Peter was going to have the liveliest cheering section ever for his open house. It was the opposite of his childhood and Tony thanked god, reassured that his son would never know the loneliness he had. Who knew maybe when Steve got home they would have another talk about a baby brother or sister for Petey. Then he would really never be lonely. 

After they finished eating with some more amiable chatter about Bucky’s prosthesis and about holiday plans they went their separate ways. Tony back to the office and Bucky headed off down the sidewalk to his volunteer job. He wasn’t able to get a 9-5 job just yet since he was still in therapy and hadn’t fully mastered his prosthetic, but he couldn’t sit idle either. Sam had found him some hours volunteering at homeless shelters around the city. 

As he walked he pulled out his cellphone and dialed. “Hello?” The crisp professional voice of one Pepper Potts answered. “Hey Pepper its Bucky, I just saw the letter, did you call Rhodes?”….


	3. Family

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hope, Family, a Science Fair and a surprise

The week went by slowly after that, every moment spent waiting for word from Steve.  By Friday Tony decided they needed a little cheering up so they started decorating early.  They took down the Halloween decorations and put up half Fall Harvest/Thanksgiving decorations and half Christmas decorations, with the exceptions of the lights and the tree.   Steve would never allow it, he always believed Christmas decorations should be saved for after Thanksgiving, but Tony and Peter decided it would be fun to tease Steve when he called about breaking the unwritten rule. 

As the night grew long they finished decorating and curled up on the couch to watch a documentary together, a guilty pleasure for the whole Rogers-Stark family, Peter liked animal ones while Tony liked ones about science and space and Steve preferred historical documentaries.  The lap top was open on the coffee table in anticipation of a skype call.  Both of them would look at it at regular intervals all night hoping it would ring. 

Peter fell asleep around 930 and still no call had come through.  At 10 Tony put Peter to bed and sat down to check his emails.  He was surprised to find one from Steve, but his heart soared to know that even though he couldn’t call he had tried to contact them. 

The email was short,

‘Tony, babe, I miss you so much. I’m sorry I haven’t called.  We just got back from maneuvers today and have been busy debriefing and cleaning up our gear. All safe and sound.  I let the guys have first dibs on Skype time while I work on briefings for the higher ups.  The joys of command.  Apparently the techs out here are telling us that service will be down for a couple days due to maintenance and upgrades, why they couldn’t do it while we were off base I’ll never understand? 

I have a feeling that if you were here all our tech and equipment would work much better.  All I can think any time the techs tell me they have a problem is ‘Tony would not approve’.   

But I will make a video for Peter and send it before the signal goes down.  I want to wish him luck before next week’s science fair.  Pretty please record it for me.  I want to show the guys how smart our little guy is.

The good news is that we are due for a few days of limited duty over next weekend because its Veterans Day so I’ll definitely call you then.  Sunday November 11th, it’s a date babe. You, me, and Petey and unlimited screen time.  It’s not as good as being there in person and I miss you both terribly.  I can’t wait to have you in my arms again.

 All my love, Steve’ 

Tony was crying as he finished the email.  It was partially out of relief that Steve was alright and that he’d finally contacted them and also out of sadness, missing Steve so much it ached.

He cried until he had nothing left and fell into bed, sleeping better than he had in two weeks. 

The next morning he woke Peter up with a special breakfast of eggo waffles with whipped cream and berries and told him about Steve’s email and suggested the check again for his video after breakfast. 

Peter was elated and ate quickly before crawling into Tony’s lap on the couch as he checked his email.  Sure enough there was a video.  It was wonderful to see Steve he was tanned from the sun and freshly showered, smiling at the camera, Tony was pleasantly surprised to see he also had a bit of a beard growing in. “Hey guys!  I just wanted to let you know I’m back safe and to wish Peter good luck at the science fair. I know you’ll do great.  I asked Papa to record it for me and then when I call again you can explain to me all about your experiment.  Make sure to have Papa supervise if it’s dangerous, and wear safety goggles, Papa is a bad example.” Steve said with a wink and a smile.  “I miss you both so much and wish I could see your faces.  I’ll talk to you next weekend, be good, I’m so proud of you and love you so much.”

Their spirits were lifted by the short video and the rest of the weekend went by in a haze of comfort knowing that Steve was safe and sound.  Peter worked on his experiment and Tony took him to get his hair cut.

If the weekend went fast the week seemed to crawl as anticipation mounted for the open house and for Steve’s phone call. 

And if Tony had a few passionate dreams about receiving beard burn all over his body from Steve’s kisses while he begged for Steve to give him another baby well no one need ever know but him and his sheets. 

Finally Friday came, when Tony picked Peter up from school he was sure he had never seen the boy so hyper. 

“Okay how much sugar have you eaten?” Tony asked as he strapped a wiggling Peter into his safety seat.  He may be six but he was small for his age so he still needed a booster car seat.

“I haven’t had that much Papa!  I’m just excited for the open house tonight its going to be awesome! We spent all day cleaning the room and finishing our projects and the teachers gave us cupcakes to celebrate!” 

‘There’s the sugar spike.’ Tony thought to himself with a smile, but he was glad at least that Peter wasn’t nervous.  Maybe that was the blessing of being six that he wasn’t worried about winning the science fair, he was just excited to participate so nervousness was never a factor. 

“Well I’m excited too, but we have to get home, have dinner, get changed and then we’re going to meet Uncle Bucky and the gang out in front of the school at 6.  Is your experiment all set up already?”  Tony asked as they drove, he had helped bring in all the pieces to the auditorium this morning before school he just hoped they hadn’t forgotten anything. 

“Nope its ready!  I just hope the sun lamp is strong enough to create the concentrated beam I need for the last part of the speriment.” 

“It should be I made it.” That had been Tony’s one contribution to the project.  Peter’s project was on light refraction and convergence.  For a third grade level project all he needed to do was demonstrate the different ways that light can be viewed, changed, or used, but Peter had wanted to do a different experiment for each to exemplify; refraction, reflection and convergence.  Convergence being where fire is created from magnified light.  Tony made sure to provide a sun lamp that would provide a strong enough ray of light to create the effect that normally was achieved at the peak of sunlight in the day. Other than that all other aspects of the project had been worked out by Peter. 

Tony hadn’t been terribly surprised that Peter had come up with a project that exceeded even his third grade science class’s level of understanding.  He was pleased and secretly hoped once he was 7 Tony would be able to enroll him in some of the middle school science clubs so that Peter’s curiosity could be adequately met.  He didn’t want him skipping grades too much, but he did want Peter to be challenged in a positive way.  Tony knew all too well what it felt like to be smarter than your peers and your elders having gone to MIT at 16. Steve and he had agreed that no matter how advanced Peter turned out to be that they would let him have as normal a school experience and childhood as they could until 8th grade after that they could enroll him a school more suited to his talents. 

 Peter practically bounced out of the car, and all through dinner and through Tony’s fussing with his outfit.  Peter had insisted on looking his best, which Tony thought would be one of his mini suits, as that was Tony’s definition of best dressed, but Peter insisted on his best white collared shirt with a blue sweater over the top and olive green trousers.  He looked very much like a mini Steve and Tony told him so as he finished fussing with Peter’s hair.  “Other than this hair mousse you look just like Daddy.”  Tony said with a smile. 

Peter grinned.  “Do you think Daddy will like it?” He asked excitedly thinking about the video they were going to make for Steve of his project. 

“I think he’ll love it!”  Tony said around the lump in throat. 

With that they donned their jackets and headed back to the school.  Tony was certain he had never seen so many children at the school before as they walked up to the front. ‘I guess lots of people skip those parent-teacher conferences.’ He thought as parents and children streaming in from all sides, along with grandparents and teachers.  It was a big crowd.  He looked down to Peter who still wasn’t fazed by it instead he was excitedly searching for…

“Uncle Bucky!”  He shouted and let go of Tony’s hand to run to his uncle.  Bucky couldn’t lift him with his prosthetic but he kneeled down to embrace Peter in a bear hug.  “Hey squirt, looking good.” 

“Papa says I look like Daddy.”

“You do indeed.  Too bad he didn’t inherit your fashion sense Stark?”  Bucky teased with a smile.  Peter immediately turned to the red head beside his Uncle.  “Hi Nat!”  He said excitedly.  Nat leaned down to kiss his cheek.  “My but you look handsome Peter.”  She said with a small smile. 

Peter blushed happily, Peter didn’t have many females in his life, but he was utterly charmed by Nat, she was his second favorite after Aunty Pepper.  “Thanks Nat! I’m glad you could come!” 

“I wouldn’t miss it, your Uncle Bucky asked me to run the video camera because he doesn’t trust himself to hold it steady and I think your Papa will be too excited to hold the camera and watch you at the same time.”  She said with a wink in Tony’s direction holding up her phone. 

“I think by the end of this we’ll have more pics and video then the internet can stand.”  Said a voice coming up from behind Tony.  Walking up was their friend Clint as well as Thor and his wife Jane, all of whom were teachers at the school Steve normally taught at.  When he wasn’t out saving the world he taught art at New York’s premier high school for the arts. A job Steve had earned due to his great skill at painting and drawing. He had the talent to be a true studio artist, but he preferred to be known as the teacher that painted than the artist that taught in his down time. 

Pepper and Happy walked up shortly after, with Dr. Banner his friend and colleague from R&D.  Tony was also surprised to see the whole Barnes family in attendance, it was more than he could have hoped for and Peter was absolutely gobsmacked to see most of his friends and family there. 

“You all came for me!?”  He said in wonder.

“Of course Petey!  We want to know all about everything your learning at school.”  Pepper said enthusiastically. 

Peter ate up the attention and quickly took Pepper’s hand and began to drag her into the school prompting everyone else to hurry and follow. 

Tony couldn’t stop smiling as Peter dragged them through the halls of the school pointing out all the different rooms and saying hello to fellow students he knew.  They saw his classroom and their exhibition piece for the open house was a long board in the hallway with handdrawn pictures of what they were thankful for.  Tony was grateful that Nat was filming when they came upon Peter’s picture which was so big it was three pieces of paper stapled together.  He explained that it was a picture of their family, because that was what he was most thankful for.  Everyone was in the picture from Tony and Steve to Bucky and Nat, Pepper and Happy and Mrs. Barnes, whom Peter called Nana B as he had no other grandmother figures to speak of. Almost everyone who had come to the open house had a place somewhere in the massive picture. 

“Do you like it Papa?”  Peter asked after he explained it. 

“I love it baby, and I know Daddy will too.” Tony’s heart was bursting that Peter knew he had such a big family to support and love him and that he was thankful for them made him realize no matter what he felt about his own childhood or genetics, Peter would never be lonely and neither would Tony anymore.  ‘God I love you Steve.’ He thought because Steve was the reason Tony had such a big family now. 

The group moved on to the science fair where they looked at all the other booths first before Peter excited moved to his.  He waited for Nat to give him a signal that she was recording and excitedly burst into an explanation of his project and what he had researched and hypothesized for each light reaction.  “But you have to wait to see the actual speriment till the judges come cause some of em I can only do once.” 

They all nodded dutifully to Peter’s edict and adjourned to the snack table for a little while to wait for the judges to come around.  When the judges came to Peter’s booth they tried really hard not to crowd and Nat positioned herself perfectly for filming with a wink to Tony whose hand was held by Pepper the whole time. 

Everyone who knew Tony would tell you that he was a great public speaker and a charming negotiator that he could sell sand to a Bedouin and ice to an eskimo, but what not many people knew about Tony was that he did get nervous about public speaking sometimes, mostly because In his youth he always seemed to say the wrong thing, usually because he was drunk or high, but he had become better at managing it. 

He was also terrified of Peter not being taken seriously because of his age, but he need not have worried.

Peter was as naturally charming as his father and seemed not at all afraid as he explained his project and executed his experiments. Even taking a moment to remind the judges to put their safety goggles on. Tony’s heart soared that Nat got that on camera. Steve would love it and probably use Peter against him for many projects to come.   Peter did bite his lip a little while he held the magnifying glass, for his final experiment, his only nervous tick the whole presentation.  But it worked and the cotton ball caught fire and burned itself out without a single hitch.  The family broke out into applause and cheers at that and Peter grinned and even gave a little bow. 

The judges told him how great his project was and all shook his little hand before moving on to the next booth. 

Tony couldn’t help himself he rushed over and plucked Peter up off the ground in a hug.  “I’m so proud of you Petey. You did great!” 

“It worked Papa!  It worked!”  He said excitedly hugging Tony around the neck. 

“Of course it did, you practiced it before.”  Tony said with a grin.

“Yes but a good scientist has to repulcate his experiments to prove the theory.”  Peter responded very matter of fact.

Tony laughed happily. “You are quite right.”  Tony said squeezing Peter again. 

The whole family gathered round to tell Peter how great he did and even to ask more questions about his project which he happily answered and the ones he didn’t know the answers to he told Tony to write them down in his phone so he could research them later. 

Tony was so happy and proud of his little guy, there was just one thing missing….

Nat walked over to him smiling as she gestured to the phone before putting it in her pocket.  “Got it all.  I’ll send it over to you tonight.” 

“Thanks Nat, Steve is going to love it.  I just wish he was here with us.”  Tony said a little sadly. 

Nat patted his shoulder, “I know for a fact he is doing everything he can to get back to you and Peter as soon as possible.  I haven’t met him but from what James tells me he hung the moon so if he can do that, he can reign in a few terrorists and get back here.”

Tony laughed at that, Steve hadn’t met Nat yet, but he had a feeling they were going to get on like a house on fire, he really hoped Bucky held on to this one.  But it seemed a good sign that he had invited his mother and sisters to the open house with Nat there, maybe Thanksgiving wasn’t a far stretch of the imagination after all. 

He looked over to where Bucky was playing dumb with Peter asking him to explain again what reflection meant?  Bucky was only teasing but he wanted to make Peter feel smart and knowing something Uncle Bucky did not would make Peter giggle if nothing else. 

Yes it was a good night. 

The night was growing long and it was almost 830, Tony was starting to think about trying to get Peter home, but he had a feeling if he tried, there might be some fussing.  But just as he was thinking about making the effort the principal announced that the judges had made their decisions and could every one gather around for the awards ceremony. 

Seeing it was only polite to support Peter’s classmates they gathered around the little podium set up at the front of the cafeteria. 

Tony was surprised when Peter was announced as the third place winner. Well not surprised Peter was a smart kid, but surprised that they would grant him a prize at his age.  But this was something Peter earned himself and he deserved every accolade.   

Peter looked around in shock while the whole crowd applauded and the family cheered him.  Tony grinned and motioned for him to take the stand.   He did with a bounce and a grin waving at everyone from his perch.  Tony snapped a picture with his phone as they announced the second and first place winners.  Peter and his classmates high fived on the podium and giggled together at their accomplishments, congratulating each other on a job well done. 

As the crowd calmed down the principal announced that they had a special guest here to hand out the medals.  “Here to congratulate our winning students we have a special guest here tonight. Please welcome, Captain Steven Rogers-Stark who just arrived back from Afghanistan.” 

Tony’s heart stopped he turned his head to see Steve striding towards the podium from the cafeteria doors in his camos with his cover still on.  Peter saw him and screamed “DADDY!” Before diving off the podium and racing into Steve’s arms. 

Steve swung him up and held him tight with one arm under his butt and the other on the back of his head holding him close as Peter wrapped his arms around Steve’s neck and sobbed in happiness. “Hey buddy.” Steve whispered. The sound of Steve’s voice overwhelmed Tony and he gasped out on a sob.

The world seemed to slow down as Steve’s eyes opened and instantly met Tony’s.  He removed his hand from Peter’s head and held it out.  Tony wasn’t ashamed to admit he too ran and threw himself into Steve’s arms holding his head close as they kissed, hard and sloppy, but perfect.  Tony gasped on another sob and burrowed his head into Steve’s shoulder putting one arm around Peter as the little family cried together, finally reunited.  The crowd was clapping and cheering again as Peter finally looked up at Steve with a sniffle.  “You’re back?” 

Steve grinned his eyes sparkling in that way they always did when he was happy.  “Yep. You see Santa got your letter and thought that you had been such a good boy this year that he decided you shouldn’t have to wait for Christmas to see me. So he made a few calls to my Commander and he asked me if I would like to come home to you and Papa and I said yes, immediately.  So he sent Uncle Rhodey to come get me because he’s the fastest pilot in the world.”  He said gesturing to the Air Force Colonel standing next to the door with a grin. Rhodey through a wink in Tony’s direction, Peter gasped in excitement.  He never got to see Uncle Rhodey and Uncle Rhodey had brought his Daddy home, so that was surely twice as good. Tony thought he could kiss Rhodey in that moment.  His best friend was stationed in California, but had flown all the way to Afghanistan to bring back his husband.  “And we raced back here as fast as we could to make it in time for tonight.” 

Peter gasped and wiggled excitedly, Tony had never see such joy in his little boy.  “Papa! Santa got my letter! Did you hear that?! He’s real! He’s real!”  He threw his arms around his Steve’s neck again hugging him tight!  “I missed you so much Daddy!” 

Tony watched as Steve blinked away fresh tears and held their son close. “I missed you too Petey.”  He kissed Peter’s head and then Tony’s.  “I love you and I’ll never leave you again.”  Tony couldn’t believe his ears. 

“What?!...” He stammered blinking up at Steve.  Steve grinned.  “I don’t have to go back.  They want me to finish out the last few weeks of my tour here getting things ready for my unit to come home and the next unit to head out and then I’m being released.” 

Tony swallowed hard to stop his sobs from coming back, “You mean it?”  He said gazing up lovingly as this miraculous man.

“I do.  There is nowhere on Earth I would rather be then right here in New York, with my family.”  He leaned down to kiss Tony again, gently this time, but his lips lingered and Tony enjoyed the familiar feeling of Steve’s lips on his and the unfamiliar feeling of a beard on beard kiss. He could get used to this.  He pulled back to look into Steve’s eyes again, clear and sparkling and present.  “I love you Steve Rogers-Stark.” 

“And I love you Tony Rogers-Stark.”  Steve whispered. 

Their little bubble had to break eventually they had the whole school watching.  Steve made quick work of passing out the medals though Peter could have cared less about his medal, his Daddy was back and that was all that mattered.  Peter didn’t want to leave Steve’s arms and Steve seemed reluctant to let him go or to let Tony out of his sight.  He greeted the family and Tony got a bit choked up again seeing him reunited with Bucky.  He also revealed that Nat had facetimed Peter’s whole science project presentation to him as his and Rhodey’s plane descending into New York.  Tony had been right about those two getting along, already thick as thieves. 

Rhodey joined them and Peter gave him a tight hug.  “Thank you Uncle Rhodey for bringing Daddy back.” 

“Santa’s orders.”  Rhodey said with a wink.  When Peter clambered back onto Steve’s shoulders Rhodey turned to Tony, “Besides I couldn’t very well let my best friend have a blue Christmas.  And we both know you’d go hungry without Steve to feed you.”

Tony laughed at that.  “Do I look like I’ve lost weight?” He asked playing with his belt.  As he said so he caught Steve’s eye and he could see the hunger burning there.  He was pretty sure later to night his dreams of beard burn were going to come true. 

He could see his future now, the near term, the midterm, and the long term; tonight they would celebrate being reunited as a family and once Peter was tucked in bed they would celebrate being reunited as lovers.  The weekend would be spent catching Steve up on sleep and food and cuddles.  They would celebrate Veteran’s Day with Bucky at the homeless shelter.

They would celebrate the holidays all together and welcome home Steve’s unit. And Tony would have to find a way to pay back all of Santa’s helpers, he thought casting a fond eye to where Pepper and Bucky were talking animatedly with Steve and Peter. Then back to Rhodey who had joined the crowd and was chatting with Steve’s friends from school. 

Tony and Steve would build their family and cherish every moment together, never to be parted ever again. 

                                      

 

 

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed this story. I'm a little rusty, I don't get to write much anymore, but work is so stressful right now, putting together this story was the only thing keeping me sane. So I hope it cheers you as well.


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